Pirate-goods sellers protest being ‘exploited’ through alleged government extortion

[Lite Beer]

Pirate-goods sellers protest being ‘exploited’ through alleged government extortion
Phuket Gazette -

Pirated-goods vendors take to the streets to denounce corrupt officials. Photo: Supplied

PHUKET: A barrage of complaints were voiced by pirate-goods sellers during a protest against allegedly being forced to pay “too much” extortion money to a variety of government officers based in Bangkok.

“They come for money every day, but it’s always a different officer,” said one of the protesters, who declined to be named.

“They ask for 3,000 baht or more, and if they arrest a vendor, it can cost more than 50,000 baht to have the charge cleared.”

The protester claimed that officers told him that they sent the money to their bosses in Bangkok.

The group of vendors from about 40 different shops in Patong took to Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Road and Thaweewong Road carrying signs which read in Thai, “Shop closed to escape exploitation”, “Closed because we cannot afford to pay extortion money” and “Did not sell ya bah [methamphetamine], why do they think we commit a crime.”

The protesters demanded that relevant officers fix the problem.

“We know the goods are illegal, but tourists like them,” the protester said.

Reports have yet to surface regarding any arrests of protesters.

However, in July last year, a Department of Special Investigation (DSI) task force arrested seven people and seized pirated goods with an estimated street value of more than 100 million baht (story here).

Prior to that, in February, Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova joined officials as they destroyed pirated goods worth about 216 million baht in a ceremony in Phuket (story here).

Despite regularly destroying hundreds of millions of baht of pirated goods a year, Thailand struggles to shake the image of being a hub for counterfeit goods.

In May 2012, the nation found itself in the international spotlight after Lady Gaga landed in Bangkok for her “Born this Way Ball” performance.

Shortly after her arrival, the pop star tweeted to more than 24 million Twitter followers, “I just landed in Bangkok baby! Ready for 50,000 screaming Thai monsters. I wanna get lost in a lady market and buy a fake Rolex.”

In response, the Commerce Ministry’s Intellectual Property Department officially expressed its disappointment to the United States Embassy, reported The Nation.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Pirategoods-sellers-protest-exploited-alleged-government-extortion/29628#ad-image-0

-- Phuket Gazette 2014-05-30

[TVGerry]

Wow just wow. I really don't know what to say. Criminals breaking the law protesting against paying too much bribes. Only in Thailand I guess...

[Dogmatix]

Layer upon layer of crime and corruption.

[Costas2008]

That's OK, they are only protesting against the other criminals.

[thumper101]

Beyond pathetic!!

It's almost as though they feel they have a right to break the law.

“We know the goods are illegal, but tourists like them,” the protester said.

Lots of people also like drugs............

Edited May 30, 2014 by thumper101

[Payboy]

Thailand struggles to shake the image of being a hub for counterfeit goods.

Hubba Hubba

[KarenBravo]

Political reforms?

Hah! Don't make me laugh. Not in this country.

[iSabai]

Beyond pathetic!!

It's almost as though they feel they have a right to break the law.

“We know the goods are illegal, but tourists like them,” the protester said.

Lots of people also like drugs............

Bit of a stretch to compare bogus copy purses, sunglasses, watches, and CD's/DVD's with drugs ain't it? Lots of people like to come here and buy that crap, so what?

Let's make Thailand same as our mommy-states so we can all feel good about ourselves and think we're all cool because we're drinking the PC kool-ade.

[simon43]

Bit of a stretch to compare bogus copy purses, sunglasses, watches, and CD's/DVD's with drugs ain't it? Lots of people like to come here and buy that crap, so what?

So what? It is illegal, stealing royalty payments from legitimate companies who have invested heavily in designing and manufacturing their genuine goods.

Would you be happy if you invested your money to produce a nice design of watch and then some schmucks go and copy it and sell a crappy version that will break within days?

At Phuket Airport, there are signs warning passengers that they may be arrested in Italy and Germany if they are found to be carrying counterfeit goods.

[FireMedic]

Ha! Next it will be the taxi and tuk tuk drivers protesting about paying too much......oh wait, they did already. Soon it will be the sex show and monkey touts protesting that they know it's illegal, but tourists like them. Or even better would be the ladyboy soi mafia boss complaining. That would be great!

[laurentbkk]

truth hurts ....

[jvs]

I see it more as free advertizing for the big companies,most people who buy a fake Rolex can not afford a real one.

So what if the watch stops running after a few days?Some keep on going for years.

The same with sunglasses and other stuff.

Just like the big drug companies refuse to sell for a lower price,corperate power!

[IamNoone88]

My advice: Get out of the fake goods business. If not, expect to be extorted. It comes with the territory.

[MarkCyr]

Why even bother making a distinction being between the illegal sellers and government? The sellers, (their customers, obviously), the police, and the government are all part of the same scheme of turning a blind eye allowing illegal profits trickle up the food chain. There's no way these guys are going to get "justice" in a system that is entirely corrupt. If they want a bigger piece of the pie, they'll have to pay off the local cops a greater chunk to leave them alone while they muscle up and send any government types back to BKK with their tails between their legs.

[ezzra]

Wow just wow. I really don't know what to say. Criminals breaking the law protesting against paying too much bribes. Only in Thailand I guess...

Apparently the rule that a thief can steal from a thief doesn't go down well in these

parts of the country

[indothai]

I'm against pirated goods, but this is a good "first step".

The sale of pirated goods isn't so clear cut, so i'm not going to pretend there is an easy solution for it... but this is definitely a good step.

Now we will so how serious our current "government" is to rid of corruption.

[klauskunkel]

“We know the goods are illegal, but tourists like them,” the protester said.

So in their contrived logic by providing a service to tourists they suddenly become less criminal...? A hopelessly primitive and naïve mindset which makes them a prime target for extortion...and round and round it goes, when it stops nobody knows...

In your next lifetime, when growing up eat your veggies - maybe you will be smarter and can become an extortionist yourself!

[howzat]

Lets hope the new government will get to grips with this along with the illegal casinos as part of the much needed reforms.

Yesterday I witnessed an elderly lady begging at the foot of a sky train station and as I walked by another lady carrying a baby arrived and passed the baby to the elderly lady and then left.

Whats all that about?

[HUAHIN62]

Sortout the civil service corruption first, this is the biggest problem.

[zyphodb]

Sounds like the Police are killing the golden egg laying Geese to me, if they want too much in bribes they'll finish up getting nothing as the shop keepers turn to noodle selling or motorcycle taxi ing...

Mind you it does expose the level of stupidity & greed in some parts of Thai society...

[shaurene]

Copy goods have been sold in Thailand for many years, also China, Hong Kong, Macau, Phillippines,

It is one of the main reasons tourists come, but it makes the Police a good earner, leave them alone, people get screwed at the prices of the genuine stuff.

[Lobin]

worth an hour and a half of your time to watch this documentary on counterfeiting

all too easy to say it doesn't hurt anyone except the big corporations, but they can afford it can't they. yea everyone likes a good knock off pair of shades or T-shirt, but what about essential medications?

[boggle]

Lets hope the new government will get to grips with this along with the illegal casinos as part of the much needed reforms.

Yesterday I witnessed an elderly lady begging at the foot of a sky train station and as I walked by another lady carrying a baby arrived and passed the baby to the elderly lady and then left.

Whats all that about?

Simple scam maths.

1 old lady = ?Bht

1 old lady + baby = ?Bht

I was aquanted with a guy who would take the fall for the sellers of these pirated goods. Made a decent living out of it.

He did get some free board and meals from time to time as well.

[Thormaturge]

Looks as though our new government is going to be busy. I suggest they establish a telephone anti- corruption

hotline with maybe half a million staff.

[skorchio]

The last paragraph is hillarious, the Ministry complained to the US Embassy!!! Laughing my fooping Farang ass off, as I am sure the Embassy staff did too. Lady Gaga tweets a commonly known fact and the Ministry embarrasses the entire country

[Lupatria]

Next week producers of counterfeit documents and money will temporarily suspense service to join the protest.

Regarding a smooth traffic flow, we can only hope their group won’t clash with the Ya bah sellers on their protest march to city hall, while United Front of Extortion Specialists (UFES) block several intersections in attempt to counter what they call “illegal protests”.

[harrycallahan]

Good riddins to the crap merchants. Better quality can often be bought cheaper in the west, you just won't have a label which others know is associated with crap knockoffs.

"Oh look how many girls have Gucci handbags in Fountain Lakes, they must be effluent out here"

[Whidbeyboy]

Wow just wow. I really don't know what to say. Criminals breaking the law protesting against paying too much bribes. Only in Thailand I guess...

The irony is at a level never seen before. Funny really.

[Jimbolai]

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I see it more as free advertizing for the big companies,most people who buy a fake Rolex can not afford a real one.

So what if the watch stops running after a few days?Some keep on going for years.

The same with sunglasses and other stuff.

Just like the big drug companies refuse to sell for a lower price,corperate power!

Now you said it. The pharmaceutical rip off. And the Medical rip off. Needing an extortion script to buy the medicine you know well and you need. Institutionalized and organized extortion by the medical pRofession. Thanks LOS that we can still buy it if we can spell it.

[bangkokheat]

Lets hope the new government will get to grips with this along with the illegal casinos as part of the much needed reforms.

Yesterday I witnessed an elderly lady begging at the foot of a sky train station and as I walked by another lady carrying a baby arrived and passed the baby to the elderly lady and then left.

Whats all that about?

they are playing pass the baby